REVIEW: Duke Special at Brighton

This was hardly the high-tech stage kit you might expect from a winner of the Irish equivalent of the Brits, but then Duke Special seems to revel in defying any of the routine categories of the music business.

He styles himself on the vaudeville era, and yet the compelling lyrics of his powerful songs are accompanied by crashing chords, as his piano playing sends his dreadlocks flying in every direction.

So, best just to sit back and enjoy two hours of the Duke at Brighton's Komedia venue, where the lively atmosphere upstairs amid the cabaret-style seating only added to what was a rattling-good night out.

One-man-band Rob Jones, aka the Voluntary Butler Scheme, warmed things up with his witty, endearing songs and impressive musical ability on instruments as diverse as the kazoo, synthesizer, guitar, drums and keyboard.

On a night of alter-egos, it was then time for Peter Wilson to step into his persona as Duke Special, attack the ivories and tug on our heartstrings.

He tells us that, as it's a solo performance, we'll have to help him with some community singing later, but first, the well-crafted songs lay bare the emotions and show a passion which is equally present in the way he sings and plays, summoning up a big sound from the humble-looking upright, and using the gramophone, which he winds up vigorously, to colour in the tonal backgrounds.

Brixton Leaves, Last Night I Nearly Died, and Portrait from his album Songs from the Deep Forest, are tentative, almost apologetic love songs, and there is promising sounding material from the new album he is about to start working on.

This is a highly theatrical show, almost magical when he used another prop, a jewellery box with a pirouetting ballerina and tinkling music, picked out with a spotlight on the darkened stage, the spindly, tiny doll a reminder of the fragility of relationships.

And flickering images from the silent movie era projected onto a drumskin added a nostalgia and poignancy to the occasion.

Vaudeville's dictionary definition is "a light or comic theatrical piece, interspersed with songs and dances". It was certainly variety, as he stood on the piano, played a trumpet and at the end, delighted fans by sitting among them at a second piano in the audience. But in the range of emotions Duke stirred up, there was a darkness at times, too.

Power, passion and a presence on stage not many can match sum up why this Duke is so special.

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